A collection of 378 posts
Stalin publicly misused the term so often, in fact, that Princeton history professor Stephen Kotkin has suggested he lacked a fundamental understanding of the word’s meaning.
Gregg finishes the book by concluding that the success of Western civilisation rests on the “four theses” of creation, freedom, justice, and faith.
The War of Return is an important book and, unquestionably, a welcome corrective to the plethora of myths, lies, and misconceptions that litter the discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In Pepys’s time a scarlet cross on the door denoted an infected household and sentinels stood guard outside to keep people inside.
Social isolation can be so stressful that it “disrupts brain development (in younger members of social species) and leads to mental health problems later in life.”
The Black Death wiped out half the population of Europe in the space of four years.
There is no reason—no reason at all—that middle-class American Blacks or Appalachian whites cannot be expected to perform at the same level as recent immigrants from the Philippines.
The indecency of this spectacle was compounded by the fact that Putin was allowed to posture as the savior of Kremlin hostage Naama Issachar, whom he pardoned after his trip.
Our Man tells a tidier story than The Unwinding because it focusses on one man, and the analogy between Holbrooke and the country he served holds up remarkably well throughout the book.
Heller’s overarching message, the consistently identifiable thread woven through her oeuvre, seems to have been this: find a cause and seize it.
No one wants to be “victim” of someone else’s biases, but almost everyone is comforted by the idea that one’s brother, mother, or uncle is heavily biased in their favor.
Live your own life, worry about your own problems, and let others worry about theirs.
Viewed as a romantic comedy, a bromance, or a musical, White Christmas may seem like just a lightweight piece of Hollywood fluff. But considered as a hymn to post-war America, it acquires additional depth.
Mishima’s reputation has grown in the new century and today there is more serious interest in his work than ever before.
The sheer number of complaints, and the seriousness of some of the charges, were such that the pope might have been forced to take some action even under normal circumstances.